Navy Secretary Names New Destroyer in Honor of U.S. Senator From Georgia

An artist rendering of the future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sam Nunn. U.S. Navy photo illustration

WASHINGTON
— Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer named a future Arleigh Burke-class
guided-missile destroyer, DDG 133, in honor of former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, who
represented Georgia from 1972 to 1997, the secretary’s public affairs office
said in a release.

“Senator
Nunn’s impact on the Navy and Marine Corps team cannot be overstated,” Spencer
said. “His leadership in the Senate, specifically as the long-serving chairman
of the Senate Armed Services Committee, helped streamline the military chain of
command and strengthen our Navy and Marine Corps team. I am pleased that
Senator Nunn’s legacy of service to our nation will continue in the future USS
Sam Nunn.”

Nunn’s “leadership in the Senate… helped streamline the military chain of command and strengthen our Navy and Marine Corps team.”

Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer

Nunn
served in the U.S. Coast Guard 1959 to 1960 and remained in the Coast Guard
Reserve until 1968. A Democrat, he was elected to the Georgia House of
Representatives in 1968 and in 1972 was first elected to the U.S. Senate.
During his tenure as a senator, Nunn served as chairman of the Senate Committee
on Armed Services and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He helped
draft the Department of Defense Reorganization Act and the Nunn-Lugar
Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which helped Russia and the former Soviet
republics to secure and destroy their excess nuclear, biological and chemical
weapons.

Arleigh
Burke-class destroyers conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence
and crisis response to sea control and power projection. USS Sam Nunn will be
capable of fighting air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously, with
offensive and defensive weapons systems designed to support maritime warfare,
including integrated air and missile defense and vertical launch capabilities.

USS Sam
Nunn will be constructed by Huntington Ingalls Industries in Pascagoula,
Mississippi. The ship will be 509 feet long, have a beam of 59 feet and be
capable of traveling in excess of 30 knots.